


Glower

by ikigai (fencingfox)



Series: P/T Word of the Day [5]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Family, One Word Prompts, Other, POV Multiple, Wordcount: 500-1.000, some sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22474666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencingfox/pseuds/ikigai
Summary: verbhave an angry or sullen look on one's face, scowl
Relationships: Miral Paris & B'Elanna Torres, Miral Torres & B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris/B'Elanna Torres
Series: P/T Word of the Day [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613410
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Glower

"If you will not behave, get out of the house."

"Fine! I'll leave." B'Elanna slammed the back door behind her. Her mother just didn't understand. She didn't want to go to some stupid monastery school. It wouldn't help anything. It wouldn't make Dad come back. It wouldn't make her happy.

The only thing it would do is make Mom happy. B'Elanna kicked a rock. It skittered away and hit the backyard tree. Mom was being so selfish! Mom didn't love her. She probably hates Dad for leaving first.

Miral Paris couldn't stand Mom right about now.

Someone knocked on her door. "Miral?"

She turned around on her bed, back to the door, hands ripping the paper in front of her for lack of anything else to destroy. "Go away," she spat.

"Oh, look at that. The door opened all on its own." Miral sent a scowl over her shoulder at her father. "You're right. Let me close it for you." He stepped inside before closing the door behind him. "Want to tell me why you said what you said to your mother?"

"No."

Her father waited. Miral tore the paper in two slowly, relishing the sound. He sighed behind her, but she forced herself not to turn around. The floor creaked when he walked around the bed to face her. He knelt.

"Will you tell me why you're upset?"

She shook her head. She wasn't upset. She was angry. Still, her throat caught and Dad knew her well enough to see it happen. He reached up to stroke her hair.

"Hey, sweetie. It's okay." He looked at her seriously yet somehow without losing what made him appear kind. "You _are_ allowed to cry. You know that right?" Miral choked on a sob. She slipped off her bed to take the hug Dad offered. He shushed her and stroked her hair.

"It's not _fair_. Mom gets to decide _everything_ for me. Who I can hang out with; how long I can stay out; the amount of time I get on the _viewscreen_ even. I'm so sick of it."

"She's your mother; she _and I_ get to decide these things."

"She's just being selfish." Miral sniffled. "I hate her." It's what she said before and she still meant it. Mom was the worst.

_I hate you!_

Replaying those words from her daughter caused a well of pain to spring up. She wanted to provide her daughter with anything that she needed. _Knowing_ what B'Elanna needed always caused Miral Torres trouble.

The house sounded too empty with her gone. She missed her. She did. It was just hard to feel it under all the anger and hurt. They needed some time apart. B'Elanna needed something strong to fall back on; something within herself that no one could take with when they left.

It was hopeless trying to pretend John did not come to mind. What he took.... B'Elanna's carefree childhood. B'Elanna's goofy antics. Her own smile. Miral settled the plate down a little too harshly. The sound of glass on countertop filled the kitchen.

She was—is—a good mate. She's raising their daughter. She's putting anyone who disrespects their name in their place. She's making dinner for her family of two. She cannot even look at another man without remembering John Torres.

Where was she even going on this path of reflection? No where. She was hurting. B'Elanna was hurting. Anything she did only seemed to exasperate the situation so why not do what she thought she needed to do anyway. B'Elanna would hate her no matter what it seemed.

"B'Elanna?" Tom found her in the kitchen, staring at the replicator.

"I can't believe she said that to me," she whispered, more out of shock than any kind of desire to keep Miral from hearing.

Tom wrapped his arms around his wife and pressed his head over her shoulder to kiss her cheek. He said, "She's a teen and you told her she couldn't see her friends tonight. Which I agree with by the way; It's a school night. Of course, she said that."

B'Elanna released herself from his grasp to face him, "You don't understand, Tom. _I_ said the same thing to my mom when she told me I had to go to the monastery school."

Tom shrugged, "I said it to my mom when she wouldn't let me make a fort with my dad's books."

"A fort?"

"I was four. I got over it."

"I never got over it. What if Miral doesn't?"

"You still hate your mother?"

B'Elanna had to think about it. Grown now, she realized how hard it must have been for her mother to raise her alone. She never made it easy for her. She didn't know any better. "I guess I don't. Not anymore."

"See," Tom smiled sympathetically, "She'll get over it."

It was time. It was long overdue. Everyone involved knew it. Someone would have to apologize soon. Since Miral couldn't do it. B'Elanna had to. She found herself on Qo'noS alone. It wasn't the greatest moment of her life, but it was certainly meaningful. She had to do this alone.

The path from the transport shuttle to her destination seemed better kept since the last time she'd been this way. Shrubs dotted the landscape, hardly obscuring the stark fence. B'Elanna gazed at the gate, feeling impassive. She shook it off after a moment. While her mother had never brought it up before, she was sure (after having the same happen to herself) that those three little words always bothered her mother.

The gate opened to admit B'Elanna. She followed the path to the back. The tree she recognized brought forth bitter memories of that day.

B'Elanna pushed them aside as she approached the tombstone nearest the graveyard's tallest tree. "I'm so sorry, Mother. I love you." She stared up into the tree, imagining how her words might somehow reach her mother. "I don't hate you. I wish I could have told you sooner."

**Author's Note:**

> Is everyone glowering now? <3


End file.
